Lost Time
by neonferriswheels
Summary: A Human-AU in which Mathias is the head architect of some big construction firm and works from home, Lukas is a nurse in the local hospital's ER, and Emil is still in primary school. Based on some headcanons I have about Denmark and his tendency to move at like ten-thousand miles an hour. Part of the Patchwork Family Series.


Mathias really didn't mean to lose track of time. Last time he had checked the clock, which seemed like only moments ago, it had only been 11:30. He'd been suddenly struck by a bolt of inspiration after days of inactivity and holed himself up in his work office since early that morning. He had been so wrapped up in drafting the blueprints for the new hotel that was supposed to go up downtown that he didn't even realize the course of several hours had passed. The sun had gone down and he wasn't even aware of it.

The Dane was startled from his work when his cellphone began to buzz loudly across the desk next to his drafting table. He almost ignored it until he noticed who was on the caller id. Why would Lukas be calling? He was working a double shift at the hospital and wasn't supposed to be due back until tomorrow morning. Geez, Mathias certainly didn't envy his job. He grabbed his phone and slid his thumb across the screen to accept the call.

"Hey Luk, what's up?" He leaned back in his chair while attempting to balance his pencil upright on his drafting table.

"Where the hell are you!?" Lukas's voice snapped back. The anger in his voice made Mathias flinch a little. It was rare to hear the Norwegian riled up into any sort of real rage.

"I, uh-" Mathias began, only to be cut off.

"Because I just got a phone call from Emil's school asking where we were. They told me they tried calling the house but no one picked up. What the hell are you even doing!?"

Mathias whipped his head around to the digital clock that was perched precariously on one of his bookshelves. The harsh green numbers glared 17:45 back at him. Immediately he felt his brain kick start and his blood run cold. Today he was supposed to pick Emil up from his violin lessons at the school. That was supposed to happen almost two hours ago. "Oh, fuck!"

"Oh fuck is right," Lukas growled. "I can't leave the hospital. There was a major accident on 150 half an hour ago, so we're expecting the ambulances any minute now. Get your ass to his school and pick him up!"

"Yeah, definitely. Shit, I'm sorry Lukas. I just-"

"I don't want to hear it." Vaguely, Mathias could hear sirens on Lukas's end of the phone. "Damn, I have to go. Go get him." The line went dead before Mathias could even utter goodbye.

Mathias visibly sagged as he set his phone back down. He glanced wearily around the room and was surprised by how dark the room had gotten. He thought he'd had a better handle on managing his time than this. Slowly he got up and got his coat and car keys. Emil's school was one on the other side of the city and he wasn't old enough to be trusted to use the bus or trains yet.

Mathias let himself out of their townhouse, locking up behind him, and practically dashed to the car. Hopefully traffic from rush hour and the accident that had apparently just happened wouldn't slow him down. He got into their little sedan and maneuvered out of his parallel parking job. The Volvo slid into the flow of traffic and up the street.

The evening couldn't have been anymore terrible. A heavy rain had started to fall sometime earlier and was causing motorists to become even more paranoid and slow than normal. It was also probably the cause of the accident that Lukas was having to deal with the end results of. Mathias anxiously tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, mentally willing the cars in front of him to move faster. He fiddled with the radio dial, trying to find a station to distract him from the whirlwind of thoughts rushing through his head. Eventually he settled on a station that played the Top 40 and left it on.

He could feel his brain wanting to drift back to the project left back at home. It nagged at him, popping potential solutions to coping with Oslo's building codes into his head unprompted. Mathias was so distracted by that and his worries over Emil that he almost missed his ramp to get on the highway.

"Get a grip, Mat…" he muttered to himself, tightening his hold on the steering wheel. "You won't be helping anybody if you get into a car wreck. Then Emil'll still be stranded at school AND we won't have a car."

The trip that was supposed to take fifteen minutes stretched into half an hour as traffic was stop and go and the Dane did his best to keep from screaming out in frustration. Finally his turn off came up and Mathias practically whipped off on the shoulder. By himself, he could be a bit of a reckless driver. Every second that ticked by seemed to drag on much too long as the car idled at stoplights and behind other cars, but by 18:25 he had gotten to the primary school.

The cold rain pelted Mathias as he sprinted across the parking lot towards the front of the school building. The building was dark save for the harsh fluorescent lights that beamed out from the main offices. He let himself into the building and made his way to those offices, his shoes squeaking on the tiled floors.

Emil looked up from the book he was reading when Mathias burst through the office door. He regarded the man for a moment before turning back to his book. Mathias went to the front desk, dripping rain all over the pamphlets and papers stacked up on the counter.

"I…I'm here for Emil," he stated lamely to the woman behind the desk who looked like she really didn't still want to be here.

She looked up, annoyance flashing across her features, before speaking. "You know that parents are supposed to be available to pick up their children as soon as their regular or extracurricular classes are done for the day."

"Yeah, I know. I really did mean to come and get him right away. I just… got caught up in my work and his brother is working at the hospital right now. And I-" the woman's cold look dried up the rest of the words on Mathias's tongue. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again," he murmured and sounded very much like a scolded child.

"I should hope not." The woman narrowed her eyes as she gave Mathias a critical look. Her entire demeanor then changed as she smiled at Emil, who was getting his backpack on and hefting up his violin case. "I'll see you tomorrow all right Emil?"

"Yes ma'am," the little boy replied as he let himself out and hurried up the hallway. Mathias followed silently after him, his hands shoved deep in his coat pockets. Emil glanced back and slowed his pace so he could walk next to him. "You did it again, didn't you? That thing where you forget the rest of the world exists 'cause you're working on something super exciting. How mad is Lukas?"

"Furious," Mathias replied, feeling shamed and miserable. Here he was essentially being lectured by an eight year old. "I'm so sorry Emil. I didn't know it had gotten so late."

Emil reached out to hesitantly grab at the hem of Mathias's coat. "You scare us, me and Lukas, when you get like that…"

Mathias paused in opening the front doors to look down at the little boy by his side. Emil wasn't looking at his, but instead focusing his gaze at the floor. "Emil, I-"

"It's almost like you forget we exist too. You stop coming out for breakfast and dinner and Lukas told me that sometimes you don't even go to bed. That's why he calls you names like scatterbrains and stuff like that. It's 'cause he doesn't know how to help you." Emil looked up to meet Mathias's eyes finally. "We're new to this kind of thing. It's just been me and Lukas for as long as I can remember. So you have to help us out, okay?" He dropped his eyes, embarrassed, and scuffed his shoe across the floor. "'Cause we wanna help you, Mathias… 'Cause we both love you…"

Mathias's expression lost some of its sorrow and softened some. He crouched down so that he could meet Emil's eyes on his level. "Thanks Emil. I know you do. …Or at least I think Lukas does. I know you do. But, yeah, we'll work on this together, all three of us." He offered Emil a weak smile.

"He does love you," Emil confirmed with a nod. "He's just bad at showing it. We can help him with that and we'll help you. I'll talk to Lukas to keep him from getting too mad at you."

"Naw, Em, I can fight my own battles. Thanks for offering though," Mathias ruffled Emil's hair, who loudly protested and swatted at the Dane's hands. He felt a million times better now that he had talked. "Hey, uh, so… it's raining cats and dogs out right now and I kiiinda forget an umbrella."

"Ugh, really?" Emil shot a disbelieving look out at the rain.

"No, but wait, I can fix it so you won't get wet. Here." Mathias pulled his coat off and draped it over Emil's head and around his shoulders. "There, waterproofing complete!"

"But what about you?" Emil squinted dubiously up at him.

"I'll be fine. If I can't handle a little rain then what kind of big brother would I be?" Mathias pushed open the front door to the school building and took a deep breath. "Now, get ready to run on three. One…" Emil gripped Mathias's coat tighter over him. "Two…" They both tensed and braced themselves. "Three!" The two ran out into the rain with a battle cry.

"Go, go, go, go! We're almost there!" Mathias repeatedly mashed the button on his key fob to unlock the car. He wrenched open the passenger seat and let Emil in before hopping around to his side. "Aaaaand safe!"

"You're crazy you know that right!" Emil was laughing as he pulled off the drenched coat.

"Yeah, but you're not completely soaked right?" Mathias winked at him as he started the car. "Now let's get home. I'm feeling pizza for dinner, how 'bout you?"

"Only if you don't put peppers on it," Emil made a face. "They're gross."

Mathias burst out laughing at that, feeling relief flood over him. Emil didn't hate him and he would somehow work things out with Lukas. A catastrophe well resolved, he felt. "You got it, kiddo."

It was around midnight when Mathias heard the front door open and quietly close. He opened his eyes, pushed himself up on his elbows, and looked back over his shoulder towards the shut bedroom door, waiting. He heard shuffling around in the kitchen and the sound of the refrigerator being opened and closed, along with the clinking of dishes. Then silence.

Mathias must have stayed frozen in place practically holding his breath as he waited for the bedroom door to open. It didn't. Not after fifteen minutes, not after twenty, and not even after thirty. He burned a proverbial hole into the bedroom door as he strained his ears and tried to figure out what was going on outside. By one in the morning he decided that no one was coming.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pulled on a t-shirt and hesitantly opened the bedroom door. Mathias poked his head out into the darkened rest of the house and didn't see any movement. He shuffled across the hardwood floor to the living room and peeked over the back of the couch. Sure enough there was Lukas and his eyes were lightly closed, his phone laying on his chest and his dirtied dishes sitting on the coffee table.

"Luk…?" Mathias chanced whispering. "You still awake? Luk?" He got no response. Asleep then. He circled around to the front of the couch and carefully lifted Lukas up and carried him back to their room. As he was passing through the door, Lukas blinked his indigo-colored eyes open and peered up at Mathias's face. Mathias glanced down and noticed this. "I'm pretty sure Emil's violin teacher hates me now…" He laughed weakly. "About earlier, I know that sorry isn't going to be enough. But...I'm sorry, Lukas. I'm sorry that I'm turning out to be so bad at this whole parenting thing; at this whole boyfriend thing. It's cool if you're pissed at me. Hell, I'd be pissed at me." He set Lukas down on the bed. "I'll just go now. Sleep on the couch." He gestured towards the door.

Up until now, Lukas hadn't even tried to interrupt Mathias. Instead he had studied his facial expressions and listened. There were dark bags under the Dane's eyes and he looked stressed out beyond belief. "You've been agonizing over this since I called, haven't you?"

Mathias blinked, obviously not expecting Lukas to respond in that way. "Well, yeah. I forgot about your little brother. He was stuck at school with no one to get him for two hours. I was trying to figure out if there were enough boxes for all my stuff and was considering getting change of address forms."

Lukas snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm not kicking you out, you idiot. Yeah I'm mad at you. What kind of moro-" He cut himself off and frowned hard before standing up and cupping Mathias's face in his hands. "I…I never know what's going through your head, Mathias. You're impulsive and sometimes you're all over the place. Other times you pull stunts like this and I don't hear from you for twelve hours. I'm always two steps behind you and I'm struggling to keep up."

"…Did Emil talk to you?"

"What? No."

"Because he basically said the same thing to me when I picked him up," Mathias sat down on the bed next to Lukas. "I'm sorry I don't come with a user's manual. I should keep that in mind for later models."

"If you did come with one, it would probably all be in Danish and completely useless anyway," Lukas replied with a sigh. He got up and pulled his pajamas out the dresser. "Now I'm exhausted. Work was hell and I want to sleep for the next thirteen hours. So stop looking like an abused puppy and get into bed."

"I'm not banished?" Mathias could feel his face light up.

"You really are an idiot. No, you're not banished." Lukas pulled his soiled scrubs off, tossed them into the hamper, and redressed for bed.

"We're a mess aren't we, Luk?" Mathias stated as he slid back under the sheets.

"Mm. I like to think of it more like a work in progress." Lukas gratefully sank into his pillows, shutting his weary eyes.

Mathias couldn't keep the goofy smile off his face as he leaned over to press a kiss to Lukas's lips. "Aw Lukas, I love you."

An eye was opened as Lukas smiled ever so slightly against Mathias's lips. "I know. Now shut up and go to sleep before I really do banish you to the couch."

"Yipes! Okay, okay."

"Mathias?"

"Yeah?"

"…I love you too."

As he lay facing the wall, Mathias couldn't stop the smile from stretching across his face. Yeah they all had problems, him a few more than the others. But as he listened to Lukas's breath even out into sleep, he got the feeling that they could make things work. Things were going to turn out all right for them.


End file.
